
Superboy, er, girl
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In honor of the New Year, I’m pleased to present the most requested transgender comic of all. Many TG’s were excited and inspired by the story that first appeared in Superboy #78 (January, 1960, incidentally, also my birthmonth. Coincidence? You be the judge) and reprinted once as far as I know in Superman Giant #1.
Superboy #78 is a bonanza for collectors. Among its three stories include the origin of Superman’s costume (the "S" not only stands for Superboy and Superman, but also "Saving lives, Stopping crime, and giving Super-aid wherever it’s needed!") and the story of the first meeting between Superboy and the longtime Superman opponent, Mr. Mxyzptlk. But most of us never got past the first story, the delightful wish-fulfillment tale entitled, "Claire Kent, Alias Super-Sister!"
Not a sensitive 90’s kind of guy
The story opens with Ma Kent commenting that something would change his life today. Superboy scoffs, "Your feminine intuition, Mom? Ha, Ha!" Later, Superboy spots a spacecraft in the clouds. As he flies to meet it, he startles the woman piloting it and she loses control of her ship. "How Cow! He…er…I mean she’s a Spacewoman! It seems the sight of me startled her!" Superboy clears a path and she narrowly escapes a crash landing. "Just like a woman to lose control!" he thinks to himself.
Or at least he thought it was to himself. "I’m Shar-la! I can read minds and picked up your insulting thoughts before ‘Just like a woman!’ Well, my boy, it so happens the world I came from is run by women, not men!" Superboy responds, "Really? If you women run your world the way you run spaceships… well, I’m glad I don’t live there!"
Shar-la, offended, zaps him with her ring, but he laughs it off. "Bah, I’m invulnerable…and the angry way you’re acting makes me glad I’m not a girl!" "You may not be able to say that… later!" she claims as he flies off.
It’s not a femdom story, but
Soon, as he’s flying his patrols, Superboy looks down at his reflection in a pond. "What did she mean by that remark? Oh, forget it! Wait my reflection looks, er, very strange" (Hmm, what’s strange, Superboy? The thin waist? The long black hair? The ample chest?) "Omigosh! I’ve been changed into a,a girl!" He rushes back to make Shar-la change him back but her spaceship is gone! "Holy Cow! I,I’ll remain a girl even through I still have a boy’s mind!"
Superboy has no choice but to return home. (At this point, the narration takes a cute turn, recognizing Superboy’s new status: "As the Lass of Steel returns home…" and putting "Superboy" in quotation marks.) His father, Jonathan Kent, is taken aback, "Jehosophat! Th-that isn’t our son!" But in what is probably the high point of wish fulfillment, his mother says, "Well, I’m delighted! I’ve always wanted a daughter as well as a son! Hmm…you can’t change to Clark’s clothes so I’ll go shopping for you! You’ll have to wear dresses now, Clark!"
The feminist rally isn’t till next week
At that point, Lana Lang drops over. She’s the Kent’s next door neighbor, Superboy’s sorta girlfriend, and she is always trying to prove that Clark Kent is Superboy. Think of a teen-age Lois Lane from the days when Lois spent all her time trying to trick Superman into marrying her, being rescued by Superman, or trying to prove Clark was Superman. Okay, so we’re trying to enlighten Superboy a little, not strike a blow for women’s lib.
Anyway, Lana drops by and is introduced to Claire Kent, an out-of-town cousin who’s visiting while Clark stays with her parents. She’s in a white blouse, red plaid skirt, and, of course, glasses. Lana is thrilled to have a new girlfriend and invites her over to try out a new recipe. Claire thinks, "Cooking? That’s …er…girl stuff!" As they cook, Claire wishes she was out playing baseball with the boys, "but I…I can’t join them now… <sigh>."
Next in Claire’s exciting adventure as a girl? "Hmm… what’s better than listening to dreamy records, Claire?" Lana asks. "A thousand things! I’m bored stiff!" thinks Claire. But then she gets an odd warning in her mind about a female performer in trouble at the amusement park.
Good thing that costume is one size fits all
Claire makes an excuse and hurries to slip into her super outfit. "It’s a job for Superboy…er…Supergi- - oh, I’m all mixed up!" Surprisingly, there is no emergency when she arrives, but one soon develops, and the advance warning allows her to save the day!
And how does she explain her gender change? She doesn’t have to. As an observer conveniently explains, "You look enough like Superboy to be his twin sister! Maybe Superboy never revealed your existence before, for reasons of his own!" She quickly agrees introducing herself as Super-Sister. And of course someone then calls out that she won’t be as capable as Superboy because "after all, super or not, you’re just a girl!" Super-Sister takes that as a challenge, but she’s puzzled by that mysterious advance warning of danger.
Back home, Mom Kent explains that it is obviously feminine intuition. "It’s like a sixth sense that warns many women of dangers in advance!" At that point her Super-Intuition kicks in, warning her that Lana Lang was going to try to prove that Claire is really Super-Sister at school the next day. Needless to say, Lana’s feeble attempt is thwarted.
That afternoon, Claire’s Super-Intuition sends her to rescue a girl about to be thrown into a volcano, but she discovers that it did not warn her about a shipwreck. "Golly!" Super-Sister thinks, "It seems my Super-Intuition only works …uh…for girls, never for men!"
Next Super-Sister flies to help a girl diver in an aquatics show. She even volunteers to take her place so that the girl won’t lose her job. "I’m glad I helped another girl, even if it will seem like I always favor women in danger over men!"
But I can dream, can’t I?
Suddenly Superboy finds himself talking to Shar-la at her spaceship. Surprise! He never really changed into a girl; he was hypnotized by her ring’s "Mento Rays." Superboy’s response? "Well, I learned my lesson, Shar-la! I know now how it feels to be a girl and meet undeserved scorn and ridicule from men!" Alas, Clark’s final thought on the experience? "As for me, I’m glad I’m still Clark Kent, not Claire Kent!"
No one would ever confuse this as a statement of equal rights for women. It was an excuse to put Superboy into yet another odd situation, with a bit of a moral message attached. And they explained it away with the cliché, "It was only a dream." But for those of us who would have done anything to wake up as a girl and hear Mom say, "I’m delighted, I always wanted a daughter," it would have been a dream come true!
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All rights reserved by the original publishers.
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